Sunday, April 12, 2009

Failed Labour candidate gets fellow MP to lie to the media

Former CTU secretary and current Labour List MP Carol Beaumont, who contested the Maungakiekie seat and lost to National MP Peseta Sam Lotuliga, a Samoan, is moaning that Lotuliga is remaining on the Manukau Auckland City Council while remaining an MP.

Still smarting that she is not a constituent MP as National overturned a huge majority, she ropes in a Samoan Labour MP Su'a William Sio to comment on her media release. Sio happened to be on the Manukau City Council when he was elected to Parliament, in fact he was the Deputy Mayor at the time.

He says that after he got elected to Parliament he resigned from the council immediately because it was impossible to do justice to both jobs. Immediately.

Trouble is, he didn't, as he finally admitted to me today. He did not immediately resign.

He only resigned from the Deputy Mayoralty a week after he become an MP but he did not resign from the Council for five weeks as Whale Oil also noted.

Yet he has the cheek to criticise Lotuliga for not resigning from the council, as he said he did. Even though he didn't. That must make him a liar. And a hypocrite. He stayed on the council to help choose the deputy mayor, when he was supposed to be in Parliament.

"Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga is not fulfilling his Council role," noted Beaumont, concerningly. Beaumont couldn't care less whether he was fulfilling his council role, she was just pissed off that she got thrashed at the election after expecting to easily win. So she wheels out a fellow Samoan Labour MP who also happened to be on an Auckland area council when he become an MP as an example of what should happen - only for him to lie in the media release hoping that nobody noticed.

I asked Su'a William Sio to immediately advise whey he said he "immediately resigned" when he resigned six weeks later. I have yet to receive a response. Perhaps a response will be forthcoming in six weeks.